Man fakes own death with brother's corpse

A Japanese man faked his own death to dodge massive debts by claiming his late brother's body was his own.

Even while Tsukasa Oizumi's older sibling was alive, he used to use his driving licence to get around the fact that his own had been revoked for repeated traffic offences, the Mainichi daily newspaper said.

When the brother fell ill and died aged 56 in 2008 Oizumi decided to take over his identity completely.

The unemployed man told authorities the corpse was his own, and even the doctor who dealt with the brother's demise did not suspect anything, according to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper. The body was cremated, as is normal in Japan.

Oizumi, now 58, went on to claim social security benefits in his brother's name for caring for their elderly mother at home, it added.

But he turned himself in to a local welfare office last June because of "a guilty conscience," the Asahi said.

Police — who took months to establish the truth of Oizumi's confession — arrested him today "for allegedly disguising himself as his dead brother and registering incorrect data for official certificates", a spokesman said.